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Irish Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Derek Blighe given benefit of Probation Act after making payment to Irish Red Cross
Anti-immigration activist Derek Blighe, who was convicted of a public order offence last year after he refused to make a donation to the Irish Refugee Council has now been given the benefit of the Probation of the Offenders Act after the money was allocated to another charity. Mr Blighe, of Croughevoe, Mitchelstown, Co Cork, was last year given the opportunity at Fermoy District Court to avail of the act by making a donation to the Irish Refugee Council. A conviction followed when he failed to donate the money. At a sitting of Cork Circuit Appeals Court in March of this year, his then barrister Alan O'Dwyer said that it was 'purely a religious matter'. He said that his client's difficulty was with the position taken by the Irish Refugee Council on the repeal of the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution in relation to abortion. READ MORE Judge Helen Boyle told Mr Blighe that instead of paying €400 to the Irish Refugee Council, Blighe could pay €500 to Nasc . Nasc is an advocacy service which links migrants and refugees to their rights. Mr Blighe indicated his willingness to make the contribution. However, Cork Circuit Appeals Court today heard that the money had not been paid to Nasc. When the case was first mentioned this morning, Mr Blighe told Judge Boyle that his faith did not permit him to donate the money to Nasc arising out of their stance on the unborn child. When the case came back before Judge Boyle this afternoon, she asked Mr Blighe if he had the money in court. The 44-year-old said that he did, and she directed that he hand over €500 to the sergeant. Judge Boyle then directed that the funds be allocated to the Irish Red Cross . Mr Blighe represented himself in court. [ Ireland First election candidate Derek Blighe found guilty of threatening behaviour Opens in new window ] At a previous court sitting, Insp Jason Wallace said it was alleged that Blighe had engaged in threatening and abusive behaviour during an incident at Abbeyville House, Fermoy, on December 22nd, 2023. Witness Christopher Gomez said he was duty manager at Abbeyville when it was being prepared as accommodation for migrants and a protest by people opposing its use for this purpose had been taking place for several months outside. Mr Gomez said he had ordered an oil delivery from a local company. When the delivery truck arrived at about 11am, he said Blighe approached the driver and spoke to him. He said Blighe then told him 'the driver's not going to give you oil' and the truck left. Mr Gomez contacted the oil company and a second truck was dispatched. He opened the gates when it arrived and the driver began making the delivery. Blighe then began recording Mr Gomez with his phone and the court was shown footage he uploaded to Facebook in which he castigated Mr Gomez. In the video, Blighe can be heard telling Mr Gomez: 'You are a guest in this country. Shame on you. You should be ashamed. You will go down in the history books, you will go down in the sewers of Irish history. Go back to where you came from.' Mr Gomez said Blighe live-streamed the incident which 'really traumatised me'. He later downloaded the footage and provided it to gardaí when making a complaint. He said he had been an Irish citizen for 20 years and had 'never experienced anything like this before'. Garda Dane Murphy said he visited the protest at Abbeyville later that day and the atmosphere was 'borderline volatile'. He said Blighe made a cautioned statement regarding the incident on January 9th last, but replied 'no comment' to every question he was asked. Judge Roberts said he found the 'black and white' attitude towards immigration 'hard to understand' especially from an Irish perspective where generations of Irish people had emigrated and 'the vast majority of them illegally'.
BreakingNews.ie
22-06-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
How anti-immigrant activists tried to 'weaponise' Carlow incident with misinformation
Misinformation around a recent shooting incident at a Carlow shopping centre was "weaponised" by anti-immigrant activists and facilitated by social media algorithms, according to a researcher who monitors far-right activity in Ireland. On Sunday, June 1st, a 22-year-old man discharged a firearm inside a supermarket at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, and later died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Advertisement He was the sole fatality in the incident, and the only other injury was a minor leg injury suffered by a girl who fled the scene in the ensuing panic. Within an hour, misinformation and conspiracy theories were rampant on social media. Far-right activists made a number of claims, including that seven people had been killed in the incident and that it was a terror attack. An hour and a half after the incident, Derek Blighe, the founder of the nationalist and immigration-focused 'Ireland First' party, posted on X: "Unconfirmed Reports of a mass shooting in Carlow, apparently 7 people including a child have been shot." He also shared a Facebook comment suggesting a nine-year-old had been shot. Advertisement The Hope and Courage Collective (H&CC) is an organisation that is focused on helping communities to counter "hate and division", as well as far-right mobilisation. In an interview with H&CC research and communications lead Mark Malone said: "Claims from the likes of Derek Blighe, from Gavin Lowbridge (who runs the OffGrid Ireland account on Twitter spaces), they were framing the incident as a terrorist shooting related to their own anti-immigrant politics. This was all within a time period that allowed for no verification, and susbsequently what transpired was most of it was utter nonsense." Mr Malone also mentioned anti-immigrant activist Philp Dwyer, who drove to the scene in Carlow to film. "It was telling that Philip Dwyer was travelling back from an anti-migrant demonstration in Clonmel, heard there was something happening and landed up in Carlow, he describes himself as a 'citizen journalist'. Advertisement "He was quick on the scene. What he was pitching was 'I don't see any Irish people here, I don't see any white people here', literally after he interviewed a white Irish woman. "He's repeating these kinds of false narratives, openly lieng to the auidence, anyone can see the contradictions in what he's saying. I guess that's part and parcel of not being accountable to anyone, you can lie, contradict yourself, without consequences. "It's not like the base or his followers are interested in accuracy or truthfulness, it's more about virality and emotional content. The repetition of frames and narratives they want to push, regardless and completely independent of reality." He added: "Also telling was his approach to the Fire Service and An Garda Síochána at the scene. He started filming them and asked for information about the injuries, number of fatalities. The people on the ground probably didn't know what the details were at the time, and were reluctant to make any specific statements to a guy who evidently wasn't a journalist, was just some guy standing with a phone demanding information. When they made it clear they could not provide the information, Dwyer quickly moved to just verbally abusing them." Advertisement Mr Malone also pointed out that anti-migrant activists are often spreading misinformation with the aim of creating fear and division so that they can monetise it. They would see something like what happened in Carlow as an opportunity to insert themselves in public conversation and to push their own narratives. "Content that creates fear or posits a 'this is what happened' in an emergency situation, spreads fast. "If you have a blue tick and your account is monetised, you can get money for views on your content. "Derek Blighe and Philip Dwyer rarely post anything without asking their followers for money. Advertisement "Content that rallies emotions like fear, anger and disgust often leads to people sharing something without critically thinking or examining it. "This is why we often see false rumours about sexual violence or child abductions as a way of priming people to be afraid of Ipas centres. "They would see something like what happened in Carlow as an opportunity to insert themselves in public conversation and to push their own narratives. "There's no clarification or removing posts afterwards, they move quickly from spreading false information, claims that the shooter was a migrant or that it was an Islamic attack, when it became clear that this was an Irish person involved, they just stopped." An Garda Síochána posted regular updates about the incident, including one which clarified the gunman was a white Irishman. 'Frenzied misinformation' Mr Malone said this route made sense given the "frenzied misinformation" spreading online, however, he said it is unlikely to make any impact with those who follow the activists. "There was a small pause before they returned with 'why are they saying it's a white man?' "In fact it is actually their own cycle of disinformation and propaganda which forced An Garda Síochána to make that statement. "The number of statements from gardaí that day was rare, but it was needed to limit the spread of this frenzied misinformation online. "There are pros and cons, it's understandable why gardaí approached it that way given the rapid response of reactionary voices trying to frame it in a particular way. However, regardless of what is put out the far-right will still find ways to weaponise, argue, twist, misrepresent. "Those that are interested in pushing fear and division will continue to do so, the problem is they're allowed to lie, spread misinformation, be racist, incite violence and fear, without pushback. They're allowed to amass large followings and raise income from social media platforms even when they're clearly breaking the terms and conditions of the platforms themselves." Mr Malone recently published research into the violence in Ballymena , and identified a Facebook group that was actively encouraging people to attack individuals' homes. He pointed to this as an example of how social companies need to do more to target misinformation that poses real life danger to people. "We can see that in the context of Ballymena where we reported a Facebook page being used to organise pogroms on a street by street basis, Meta said it did not break their terms and conditions. "A lack of serious action by the platforms is a huge issue. While individuals need to be held accountable for what they're doing, these companies have billions at their disposal and are taking no action when their platform is contributing to people being burnt out of their houses. "Look at Facebook in Myanmar, a UN investigation found that Facebook was culpable in the face of a genocide in 2016, almost 10 years later people are being burnt out of their homes in Northern Ireland and it's being openly orchestrated on the platform." While there was no followup violence caused by the misinformation around the Carlow incident, social media played a big role in the Dublin riots in November 2023. Mr Malone said incidents like this are inevitable without serious action from the likes of Meta and X. Recommender systems The H&CC has long advocated for the removal of recommender systems from social media. These algorithms direct people to emotive content, much of which promotes violence and racism. "I think there's the inevitability rather than possibility that something bad will happen and that social media platforms will be playing a significant role in that, we're already seeing it. "That's why we would argue there neeeds to be serious political action around the platforms both in terms of giving clear effect to agreements under the Digital Services Act and the recommender systems. "Those mistruths that are being created as viral content are not just shown to the followers of the people posting it, the algorithms designed by the companies are there to recognise highly engaging emotional content and to spread it as far and wide as possible. "That's where anti-immigrant influencers are able to utilise the way the platforms work to spread their content, which has no factual basis to it. "There is probably a trade off being made given the amount of taxes the companies bring in, but you cannot relegate safety within our communities to the demands of platforms." He said "greater political will" is needed to address the negative impact of social media companies and their recommender systems. "Another striking thing is the number of times and the speed at which platforms can get access to the Government in terms of demanding meetings and how often those meetings are held behind closed doors, with ministers or Dáil committees. "These platforms are supposedly being held accountable, but these meetings are normally held outside of public scrutiny. That needs to end." Tánaiste Simon Harris and Taoiseach Micheál Martin have spoken out against the prominent use of tricolours at anti-immigrant and far-right demonstrations, which have been become more widespread in Dublin, Cork and towns across the country in recent years. Mr Malone said this attempt to link far-right ideas with Irish history is imported from similar movements in Europe, the UK and the US. People wave tricolours at an anti-immigrant protest in Dublin city centre "Much of what we hear coming from the mouths of the anti-immigrant movement in Ireland are reactionary British ideas with an Irish accent. "I'm not saying there has not been anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland before, but it's very clear that the modus operandi, the phrases, the language and discourse, has a much greater relationship with English fascism and British nationalism than it does with any historical Irish nationalism or republicanism that has existed. "This handing out of flags is well funded and centrally organised, trying to create a specific asthetic, this myth that these movements that have existed since around 2016, and coalesced around Covid, that they have some sort of lineage going back to 1916, they cleary don't. "In our research of their communications since 2016, they are primarily with British nationalists and English fascists. It's clear to us why the likes of Tommy Robinson and others are retweeting this stuff. They share the same world view, the flag is just a prop to share this false link to 1916. "In the North, the anti-immigrant activisits are mobilising around the term 'Love Ulster', here it's 'Love Ireland'. The importation of islamaphobia. "The raison d'etre of these movements is lifted from international spheres. They are even looking to forge alliances with fringe loyalists. "What we're seeing is some of the key actors in anti-immigrant mobilising have very extreme politics; white supremacy, neo nazi, islamophobia. "There is a distinction between people who are maybe fearful of difference, that's not an abnormal experience many people have that, but when we see people explicitly pushing white supremacist politics. Not just going to marches but live-streaming, actively organising people in local communities to stoke fear. "Propogating this myth that there is this link to historical Irish republicanism, part of what we want to do in our work is to smash that myth." 'A small minority with a large megaphone' Mr Malone said the far-right in Ireland is "still a small minority with a large megaphone provided by social media". He pointed to the "complete rejection" of anti-immigrant candidates in the recent general election, but warned that moving political discourse further to the right could still occuer. He said this is something politicians should be aware of, and made particular reference to human rights concerns over recent deportation flights from the State. Ireland Facebook being used to coordinate racist attacks i... Read More "We've already seen the Minister for Justice doing this macabre tweeting about deportation. The National Party won't be complaining about that. "We're seeing stories of people being deported after turning up for their regular calls to the Garda station which they're meant to do as part of their terms and conditions, committing no crimes and following up on what they're being asked to do, and yet they're being lifted and put on deportation flights. "Potentially the desire to shape numbers is affecting how people are being arrested and then deported, that is a concern. "Even though the organised far-right is very small, the impact it can have on the mainstream parties can be significant. It's the role of all of us to remind them, look at Europe where centre right parties take the clothes of the far-right... they get a hiding at the ballots."
Irish Times
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘The country is going to the dogs': How agitators exploited the Carlow shooting
The shooting in Carlow last Sunday was shocking, but what followed online was depressingly familiar. As soon as word emerged of an incident at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, far-right agitators surfaced online, like moths to a flame, spouting confident falsehoods before any facts were known. How could they know the details so quickly? They couldn't, but that didn't deter them. Offline, figures from the same ideological milieu travelled to the town to use the backdrop of the shooting as an opportunity to rant about immigration, the Government or the media – again, a well-established playbook that by now is both predictable and exhausting. And all details that had little to nothing to do with the incident itself. Just one hour after the incident in Carlow, Derek Blighe, formerly the president of the minor far-right Ireland First political party, posting on X, claimed – without evidence, because there was none – that 'apparently 7 people including a child have been shot'. This post has been viewed just shy of 400,000 times on the platform, but at the time of writing includes no note by X stating that it is false. Philip Dwyer, once associated with Ireland First, travelled to Carlow and livestreamed himself shouting at members of the fire brigade outside the shopping centre for not furnishing him with details about the supposed number of casualties. He then returned to a familiar topic. 'The country is going to the dogs. Everyday there's something going on … crime, mental health … migrant crime. I'm looking around me here in Carlow … good God. The diversity … the non-Irish people,' he said. READ MORE Back online, British far-right agitator Tommy Robinson posted on X that there were 'multiple reports of a suspected terror attack in Carlow, Ireland … gunman shot dead by Gardaí'. Another viral post, viewed over 200,000 times on X. Journalists, gardaí and emergency responders at the scene were berated for not releasing details about the incident fast enough. And when they did release details, they were admonished when those details didn't match the narrative circulating on social media. Carlow has quickly become another case study in how false and misleading information pollutes our online information environment, and why our democratic institutions must better equip themselves to counter this challenge. By now, we have a good grasp of the facts. Shortly after 6.15pm last Sunday, a man entered the Fairgreen Shopping Centre and fired a number of shots into the air. In the ensuing panic, a young girl suffered a minor leg injury when fleeing the scene. Outside the shopping centre, the man used his firearm again and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No one else was shot and gardaí did not discharge their firearms. Evan Fitzgerald, from Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, walked through the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow firing a shotgun into the air The gunman was later named as Evan Fitzgerald, from Kiltegan, Co Wicklow, a 22-year-old who appeared in court last month on charges related to offences associated with purchasing firearms on the dark web last year. This was established through media reporting and garda statements, four of which were released by Monday lunchtime. In the second of those statements , gardaí confirmed the ethnicity and nationality – white Irish – of the man who died at the scene. In their fourth statement, they shared detailed information about the incident. Media reports described him as 'vulnerable'. [ Man dead after shots fired in Carlow shopping centre, Army bomb disposal team called to scene Opens in new window ] The practice of gardaí sharing such specific information regarding a suspect and an unfolding situation is unprecedented. It signals the force's attempts to combat the spread of harmful misinformation before it has potentially deadly consequences. We don't have to look too far back to recall how online misinformation and hate can fuel offline violence in the space of a few hours. Rioting broke out across the UK last summer after the Southport stabbing when anti-migrant and anti-Muslim narratives helped instigate violence, while closer to home, we all remember the Dublin riots of November 2023. More recently, police in Merseyside acted similarly in the aftermath of the car ramming incident at the Liverpool FC parade . Blighe, Dwyer and Robinson have a track record of portraying their respective countries as places of lawlessness, neglected by authorities and riven by (typically migrant) crime. They opportunistically jump on any purported incident they believe – usually incorrectly – reinforces this sentiment and, in the words of Steve Bannon, accordingly 'flood the zone with shit' online. It is, at its heart, part of a wider nativist, populist strategy employed internationally by the far right to appeal to the public for political support, monetised subscriptions and broader cultural influence. While evidence was still being gathered, none of these figures could have been aware of what had transpired. Yet they – and many others – worked swiftly to fill an information vacuum that develops after such incidents while gardaí, local services and the media work to establish the facts. It is no coincidence that the three operate 'blue tick' accounts on X. The platform offers financial rewards for creating viral, sensationalist content, with few repercussions when that content later turns out to be wrong. These posts are then weaponised by far-right figures for their own ideological agendas, and sometimes used to exploit tragic cases such as this one. [ Carlow shooting: Taoiseach criticises spreading of misinformation and 'blatant lies' online Opens in new window ] There is an ongoing conflict between old and new media systems here. The slower, methodical practices of police and media in reporting on such incidents is rarely a match for the rapid sharing of content online that includes serious and potentially harmful claims with no factual basis. All of this signals how fundamentally broken our online information ecosystem has become. This is best encapsulated in the tiring trope that is typically found in online spaces after reports of an incident like the Carlow shooting emerge: repeated cries that the gardaí or mainstream media are deliberately not releasing information about an incident. Delay is interpreted as deceit and fact checking becomes censorship. This week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this kind of misinformation can result in a lot of 'public disquiet' and needs to be addressed. 'There is a family in mourning right now. The level of misinformation on Sunday was quite shocking, and we can't just ignore that and say: 'Well, we don't have to do anything about that.'' This wasn't a question of freedom of speech, he said. 'I wouldn't overstate the impact on clamping down on blatant lies online as a sort of incursion or an undermining of freedom of speech.' The Carlow shooting has quickly become another reminder that unless we address these imbalances – between old and new media, the power of social media and the need to stop misinformation – trust in our core democratic principles and institutions will continue to erode. Ciarán O'Connor is a researcher and journalist who focuses on extremism and technology
Irish Examiner
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Thousands attend pro-Palestine and anti-immigration rallies in Cork
A major policing operation was in place in Cork City this afternoon as thousands of people marched in two separate rallies. Dozens of uniformed gardaí, backed up by dozens of members of the Garda Public Order Unit — all deployed in soft cap mode — and members of the Garda Mounted Unit were on duty on the Grand Parade in Cork. Thousands gathered in one area for a Munster-wide pro-Palestine march, and nearby for what was billed as a "national protest for Ireland," organised by anti-immigration campaigners. Several prominent far-right agitators were involved in that event, including former Ireland First leader Derek Blighe. Hermann Kelly of the Irish Freedom Party was among those attending. Garda Mounted Unit at Grand Parade Cork to support the Garda Public Order Unit as two protest marches take place on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Larry Cummins Rebel News, a Canadian-based far-right online news website, had a reporter on the ground covering what it described as a rally of Irish patriots opposed to the Government's mass immigration policies. Crowd control barriers were in place to keep both sides apart. The Garda Air Unit patrolled the skies above, and with road closures and diversions in place, there was widespread disruption to public transport timetables. Following initial chanting, some verbal insults were traded back and forth between sections of both crowds before the marches began. Protest march to City Hall, Cork on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Larry Cummins The pro-Palestinian campaigners were marshalled in one direction — down St Patrick's Street, onto Oliver Plunkett Street, and back to the Grand Parade for speeches and music — while the anti-immigration protest marched in the other direction, down the South Mall at around the same time, to gather on MacSwiney Quay outside City Hall for speeches. Gardaí have not given out official crowd estimates, but organisers of the pro-Palestine march, the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign — who record attendance at their weekly rallies — have put their numbers at just over 4,500 people. They heard calls on the Irish Government to place sanctions on Israel, pass the Occupied Territories Bill, and stop the Central Bank of Ireland from authorising the sale of Israeli bonds in Europe. Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign weekly protest march in Cork City against the atrocities in Gaza. Picture Larry Cummins Naser Swirki, a theatre and film director who was born in Gaza and now lives in Skibbereen spoke of the horror that Israel is inflicting on people who are trying to survive in his country. 'In Gaza, death spares no one — doctors, children, the displaced, and even hope itself,' he said. 'In Gaza, instead of saying, "See you tomorrow," they say, "See you in heaven." 'Parents memorise their children's clothes to identify their remains later. 'They struggle to get a piece of bread, offering it before bed, so their children don't die while they're still hungry.' Protest march to City Hall, Cork on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Larry Cummins Limerick-based Palestinian poet Tamar, 26 — whose four brothers and parents are still in Palestine — and activist Tadhg Hickey were also among the speakers. It is estimated that around 3,000 people marched in the 'national protest for Ireland' rally, with many carrying tricolours. They heard speakers criticising government immigration and housing policy. Mr Blighe also addressed the Irish diaspora and said Irish nationalists want to give them a 'homeland to return to.' Garda Mounted Unit at Grand Parade Cork to support the Garda Public Order Unit as two protest marches take place on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Larry Cummins Wearing a set of blue rosary beads on his left wrist, he said the government wants to put climate, diversity and foreigners first. 'What counts in my heart is to put the Irish first,' he said. The organisers of both events encouraged participants to behave responsibly. Both events passed off peacefully and there was just one arrest for an alleged public order offence. Read More Stricter regulations needed at Cork camper van site after excrement dumped in fields, council hears
Irish Examiner
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Gardaí preparing for thousands at pro-Palestinian and far-right rallies in Cork
Gardaí in Cork say they will have 'appropriate and proportionate policing measures' in place to allow people express their rights and maintain public order during two large rallies in the city on Saturday. It is understood that gardaí are preparing for a crowd of between 8,000 to 10,000 people. A pro-Palestine march and what's being billed as a "national protest for Ireland", organised by anti-immigration campaigners and far-right agitators, are set to take place in the city at around the same time on Saturday afternoon. A Munster–wide rally and march for Palestine is set to start at 1pm on the Grand Parade. There has been a march for Palestine through Cork City every Saturday since the war in Gaza started. On Saturday, members of the public and Palestinian solidarity groups from across Cork, Kerry, Clare, Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary will converge on the city for what could be one of the largest rallies to date. They will gather afterwards on the Grand Parade where speakers will call on the Irish Government to place sanctions on Israel, to stop the Central Bank from authorising the sale of Israeli bonds in Europe, and to pass a strong Occupied Territories Bill. Anti-immigration At around the same time, several leading anti-immigration activists and far-right agitators are also set to gather on the Grand Parade for what they've called a "national protest for Ireland". Several thousand people marched in a similar rally in Dublin last month. The former Ireland First leader and failed European and general election candidate Derek Blighe is among the main organisers of the Cork event. Participants will then move from the Grand Parade and march to City Hall, where speakers are expected to criticise the Government and the media on a range of issues — including immigration, housing, and health. In a statement on Friday, gardaí said they are aware of and prepared for both events. 'Ireland operates as a constitutional democracy, ensuring that citizens have the right to express their beliefs and opinions freely, as well as to gather peacefully, in accordance with legal provisions,' a spokesperson said. To manage public gatherings effectively, An Garda Síochána employs appropriate and proportionate policing measures, enabling citizens to exercise their rights while maintaining public order 'In response to evolving events, An Garda Síochána follows a community policing model, adopting a graduated approach that aligns with relevant legislation and prioritises public safety.' The Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign says it has organised online training with up to 50 stewards to 'protect their movement, space, and community', and that they have had extensive contact with gardaí on logistics. Traffic disruption is expected in the city centre island area around lunchtime, and could last for over an hour. Read More Trinity college board votes to cut ties with Israeli universities and companies
